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Army deserter freed after 25 days in brig

November 27, 2004|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

CAMP ZAMA, JAPAN — U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins was released from military jail on Saturday after serving 25 days for abandoning his unit in 1965 and defecting to North Korea for nearly four decades.

Jenkins, 64, left the prison at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka and was to be taken by helicopter to the Camp Zama Army Base. There, he is expected to join his family before moving to his wife's hometown in northern Japan, U.S. military officials said.

Jenkins, who left North Korea with his two daughters in July, testified at a Nov. 3 court-martial that he fled the Army in 1965 to avoid service in Vietnam.